Central University of Nicaragua Degree Scheme

Well, there was another person - a real mill expert - a professor (RA school) who no longer posts here - I just checked and at least four of his old posts referred to Knightsbridge. It might have been him who informed us that Knightsbridge had been shuttered -or maybe he'd left DI by then. And yes - it seems he knew - or knew of that same purchaser on a first-name basis - the duck guy.

I, too, remember finding that the Duck Dr. Dr. himself used to post here but I couldn't find him today. I tried his name, also Brown-Teal and Dr. Anatidae...but found nothing. It's the kind of history lesson I like about DI. I'll try again...

 

His user name is fnhayes. His posts show up in searches.

 

Thanks, Rich!

"Now she gets her kicks in Stepney
Not in Knightsbridge anymore" - Rolling Stones (Don't Play With Fire)

 

I worked as a grader for this school in the early 200s and also supervised few masters' thesis. I failed the two thesis that were given to me and graded few papers. It is not evidence for sure but at least the owner did not question my failures and asked students to resubmit. I used to supervise EE and CS, he had probably like 3 students overall. None of them doing PhD. He is the one that told me that he was quitting because zero admission for few years. It was really a basement operation with very few students or it was like that back then. He did told me that he had way more students in the 90s but things vanished when he was forced to leave the UK. It was really a simple operation, professors would design courses based on readings and essays and get paid per student. I got the job by repplying to an ad he published somewhere, I probably made few hundred dollars during two years. All I am saying is that I did not see him printing massive degrees or having tons of students, it was a home operation and a very simple man with a modest place in Denmark.

 

Very insightful. But you gotta admit, he sold a PhD to a guy who'd written a book (and had used it to buy a prior PhD). None of that says "struggling little school."

 

Very possible. Henrik himself did not have a PhD. There was no research committee, no dean, no procedures, no policies, nothing. It was Henrik's little home business. The few students he had were based on his low tuition fee policy and the idea to get an European degree. Those were different days, a nice looking diploma from a school in Europe that had a school website, was enough for some people. Nowadays, this type of operations have almost no chance.
I did not see anything unethical but this was one person business and degrees were granted at his discretion only.

 

Perhaps Henrik was not unethical, sounds flaky and illegitimate to me though, for the very reasons you list.

 

Selling a PhD is unethical pima facie.

Awarding a PhD with no basis for doing so is, by definition, unethical.

If Howard the Duck hadn't defended it so vigorously--or even brought it up at all--no one would have noticed. It's the Barbra Streisand Effect.

 

Yes - it is. prima facie . Just a small typo (pima) - unless maybe Henrik printed the diploma on cotton? A Knightsbridge T-shirt?

Like Rich said.

Funny! Best one of the day!

 

Yeah, I do those sometimes. Thanks for realizing that I do know it is "prima." Hey, coulda been promo facia.

 

Straight from the Department of Redundancy Department.

 

I've recently learned that the Ortega regime in Nicaragua has reformed the law on the autonomy of higher education institutions in Nicaragua. "A reform of the Law of Autonomy of Higher Education Institutions was recently adopted, requiring academic programs of all universities to be approved by a central body." (link: https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/06/oral-update-situation-human-rights-nicaragua). Wouldn't this have serious implications for the approval of Azteca partnership degree programs and all other UCN international cooperative ventures?

 

Depends on if they're being selective or not. They did however shut down the international arms of Wake Forest University, Michigan State University, Florida International University, Thomas More University, and other foreign-run universities.

 

Yes, this does. Dr. Saavedra at AztecaU mentioned a significant change in the relationship between UCN and Azteca for their dual degree programs in an email exchange a month ago. He didn't elaborate on the details of the change at the time, but indicated that the ability to earn the dual UCN degree would be considerably more difficult.

 

rhodamine,

Thanks for the info!

 

This should cause the most conservative foreign credential evaluators to loosen up and evaluate credentials from UCN and other Nicaragua schools if this is the case. My Azteca degree alone will be given a regionally accredited equivalent since it has RVOE status either way so I would not need the UCN degree to validate the Azteca degree if I don't get grandfathered in for the UCN degree.

 

Are you getting the Azteca degree with the RVOE approval though? Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that they they only grant "own degrees" through 100% online study. I know that Azteca has the Mexican RVOE approval for the doctorate in education, but will you be getting this RVOE-approved degree, or the "own degree." Their website implies that it's the latter.

Quote: "Universidad Azteca offers inter-university doctoral programmes jointly with Universidad Central de Nicaragua UCN, those programmes are validated by UCN resulting in the award of a university own degree by Universidad Azteca and the official UCN doctor degree. Universidad Azteca may award the intermediate university own degree at Masters level or the equivalent degree at Doctors level. This applies to MBA and DBA, as well as programmes in Education, Psychology, Health Sciences and Environmental Sciences."

 

I will be able to fall back on Azteca's RVOE approved degree if the UCN one doesn't grant me the official one. I looked at their catalog and the Mexican RVOE Doctor of Education also permits the award for the official UCN PhD in Education as well. The Doctor of Education from Azteca has a coursework requirement but my Master of Education waived that requirement. I will let you all know what happens when I graduate.

 

With everything going on in Nicaragua, I wonder if UCN is in a ticking timebomb situation?

 

The more explanations something requires, the more likely it will. (A useful tautology in this case.)

The irony is that the incredible amount of explaining, rationalizing, etc., will be utterly unnecessary in most situations, and utterly insufficient in most others. But YMMV, of course. ("Your" as in anyone reading this, not any particular person.)